The ICPD International Conference on Human Rights took place in Noordwijk in the Netherlands on July 7-10 and gathered a group of 300 representatives of government, parliaments and civil society groups from 130 countries. This three day conference was designed to identify achievements, barriers and best practices in relation to achieving the goals of the landmark International Conference on Population and Development held nearly 20 years ago in Cairo and came to a celebratory close on Wednesday July 10th. Chair of the conference, Marijke Wijnroks shared reflections, key messages and recommendations that emerged from various discussion throughout the event.

Hosted by the Government of the Netherlands and delivered in partnership with UNFPA – the United Nations Population Fund, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the event was part of a UN mandated review of the 1994 ICPD Programme of Action. The Cairo conference set in stone the interdependency between human rights, sexual and reproductive health, population change and development and helped define the development agenda for the past 20 years. This was the second thematic conference after the Bali Global Youth Forum held in December last year.

ASTRA Network was represented by Krystyna Kacpura, Executive Director of Federation for Women and Family Planning serving as ASTRA Secretariat from Poland, Daniel Kalajdjieski, Programme Coordinator and youth advocate from H.E.R.A. from Macedonia and Marta Szostak, ASTRA Network Coordinator from Poland. ASTRA was also part of the Reference Group for this conference.